Stone Levitation Ale

Why I tried this: I've had a few things from Stone before, such as their Arrogant Bastard, which led to quite a few good nights. However, I hadn't had much of them at World of Beer, so I figured I'd rectify that a little by ordering the Levitation Ale. I hadn't had an amber red ale in a while, which is a style I normally enjoy, so why not?

Smell: Has a light citrus scent followed by floral hops and some moderate malt smells.

Taste: Pretty much mimics the smell. You get an initial hint of citrus that is covered up by sweet malts, eventually paving way for a bitter hoppiness that is fairly crisp and not overdone.

It's been a while since I've had a beer from Stone brewery, and I'm glad I finally came back to them. This amber ale was a decent effort, and while I don't think it's a home run, I would give it a quarter full pint glass rating. I enjoyed the balance of sweet malts and citrus transitioning into a moderately hoppy finish. If you like a good amber ale, I'd definitely recommend it. Otherwise, it'll probably be hit or miss. I may pick it up again some time.

--Jeff

Orlando Loyalty List top 10 @ World of Beer UCF

Another update to the world of beer website shows that as you can see Jeff M and I (Jon R) are climbing our way up the list.  Hitting 250 is just around the corner.

here is the link to the online list I took this screenshot from http://ucf.wobusa.com/Promos/TheLoyaltyCard.aspx

--Jon

Samuel Adams Summer Ale

My Canon DSLR put to good use...

Why I tried this: I have loved my good friend Samuel and most of his beers for a pretty long time now. I love picking up the samplers at each season from the store and I am always excited when I see a new Samuel Adams that I haven't had yet. Whenever I go out to a bar with a potential customer or boss I always order a Sam Adams so I look legit like in the commercial.

Smell: Summer. Scents of citrus, earthy hop scent, a relaxing refreshing scent.

Taste: The flavor starts out as a citrusy flavor that seems composed mostly of lemon and grapefruit ..mostly. There is a very good wheat flavor that is pretty subtle and very enjoyable. After you get past the citrus it has the typical hop flavor finish that I enjoy and expect with each of the Samuel Adams beers. The flavor is blended nicely and all of the flavors complement each other nicely.


This beer receives the quarter pint left rating. It is a good beer but there are plenty of other Samuel Adams beers that I enjoy much more then this one. I love trying all of the Samuel Adams beers and there are certain seasonals I always cant wait for when it gets close and unfortunately this is not one of the ones I will impatiently be waiting for. This beer is still very good but, Ive had better from Mr. Adams, and there are plenty of others I cant wait for.


--Jon

Erie Presque Isle Pilsner

Why I tried this: It was just another day at the office...err, World of Beer. I was just looking for something new on tap that wouldn't kill me. I'd had a few beers from Erie before, and having been unimpressed with what I've tried thus far, I initially skipped over this beer. However, my choices on the draft list were getting slim, and a pilsner sounded like just the thing for me, so I went with this beer.

Smell: I didn't really get much from this beer. Had a slight earthy hop, but only very slightly. Perhaps a bit of a bready, yeasty smell.

Taste: Not much here either. You get a slight bitterness from hops, and a certain dryness that is probably one of the few pleasing qualities of this beer. There is a slight spic

e towards the end, but overall not a strong flavor, and what's there doesn't hold when it all finally goes down.

I think it's pretty fair to say this beer will only get a half glass award from me. It's a pretty forgettable beer that lacks a good scent and doesn't have much going on in the taste department either. It's not a very crisp or clean pilsner, and was honestly just too hard to figure out what they were trying to do with this beer. I did like the dryness of the beer, and that it was fairly easy to drink, but that's about it. A good pilsner should be clean, crisp, and have lots of good flavors blended together. This does not. I won't be trying this beer again, and don't recommend it.

--Jeff

Bell's Hopslam Firkin Cask

Why I tried this: It was Bell's night at World of Beer, and I was determined to try some fresh Bell's beer on tap. The Hopslam Firkin was actually one of the beers I had earlier in the night. I was originally drinking a Double Cream Stout when Logan stopped me and told me I was crazy if I didn't try the firkin. Apparently they had very limited quantity and it would be gone very soon, if not already. Kyle agreed, so I made it my next beer. Logan was being a jerkface and wouldn't give me two beers at once so unfortunately, that meant I had to slam the stout, so I won't have a proper review for it haha. This will probably be the last Bell's review I'll be doing for the time being.

Smell: I got a really pleasant floral hop scent that had a bit of bananas and lots of citrus, notably orange, mixed in. There were other faint sweet smells as well.

Taste: It sort of comes in two waves. The first wave you can taste some lightly sweet malts and more citrus/orange. However, once you get paste the initial sweetness, in comes the bitterness. The hops start to take over, and boy do they take over huge. You are left with a very bitter and hoppy taste in your mouth. I don't know if it was the firkin cask or what, as normally I really despise this, but I actually somewhat enjoyed the finish.

Overall, I'd probably give this beer a quarter pint glass. I normally don't like hoppy beers at all, and maybe it was the firkin cask doing something different, but I definitely enjoyed this beer. At 10%, it was fairly strong, but I couldn't taste the alcohol. There was just too much flavor there. The sweet smell and initial taste was a nice surprise, as in an IPA for me that is usually drowned out by bitter hops, but the hops let the other tastes come through first before they made their presence known. Very hoppy in the finish, but overall enjoyable. If you like IPAs, this is probably a must have.

--Jeff

Weekly Beers Update 4/25/11

Hey guys, just wanted to do a quick shoutout for our beers of the week. We've got the St. Peter's Old Style Porter and Summit Winter Ale up right now. As always, check back every week for our next recommendations, as we don't always make a post about this!

http://beeruken.blogspot.com/p/beers-of-week.html

Summit Winter Ale

Why I tried this: Once again, this is another beer that Jackie gave me. I was pretty happy to see it since typically I am a fan of winter ales, especially the Sam Adams one. When the bottle opened I could not wait to try Summit's version.

Smell: Caramel and a slight roasted malt scent. A pleasant smell.

Taste: Floral and earthy hop flavor as I would typically expect. The hops are not at all overpowering and make this beer very pleasant to drink. There is a slight roasted caramel malt flavor that blends together nicely with the hops. There is a slight spice flavor but this beer is a very smooth easy drinker. I wouldn't mind one of these at all right now.




This beer receives a quarter filled pint rating. I did enjoy this beer very much and it was very smooth however this beer is not something that I would go out of my way to look for. If I saw it on a menu I would possibly order it depending on what else was on the menu. At a place like World of Beer I probably wouldn't get this again but somewhere with only 10-15 beers I'm sure I absolutely would. Its smooth delicious flavor is what earns it a quarter pint left. A great winter ale for sure.




--Jon

Bell's Expedition Stout

Why I tried this: It was Bell's night, and up next was the Expedition Stout. Previously, I had written about the Bell's Consecrator. I think this stout chronologically came right before the Consecrator and was the primary reason why I started to get pretty drunk. Thanks Kyle and Logan. Anyway, this is just the next in a series of Bell's beers I'll be covering from that night.

Smell: It has a very roasted, malty scent, with a good mix of chocolate. You can easily smell the high alcohol content of this beer.

Taste: I pretty much got the same thing I smelled. It had a very dark roasted malt flavor to it, with a fair amount of chocolate to balance it all out with sweetness, but there was a strong taste of alcohol that burned the tongue a bit. I don't believe Bell made much attempt to hide how strong this beer was. Definitely an imperial stout.

At 10.5%, this imperial stout was definitely a kick to the teeth. It was also the main cause of my downward spiral of the night. However, despite the harshness of the alcohol, what was there was very good and balanced. I always enjoy a good stout. However, I don't know if I would order this again. It was a sipper for sure. With that said, I'd probably give this beer a quarter full glass. If you're an imperial stout fan, give this one a try. You may be surprised.

--Jeff

Terrapin Sunray Wheat Beer

Why I got this: This beer was suggested to me by one of my favorite bartenders, Jackie. She typically recommends good beers to me so I went with it. On a side note Jackie also needs to shotgun a beer with Derrick and I again. I'm not exactly sure how to spell Derrick, Derek, or whatever so he's going to have to get over it.

Smell: Well I made the mistake of not smelling this beer before tasting it. Going in for the second sniff... This beer has a grainy, sweet smell, like a Belgian ale.

Taste: When I first started drinking this beer I absolutely did not expect at all a Belgian flavor. This beer tastes like a classic grainy Belgian beer. The flavor is a very very grainy malty bread flavor. The finish of this beer beyond the malts is somewhat sweet and sugary. This beer's title made me expect something a bit different going into it. The classic Belgian ale flavor and bite was a bit of a surprise to me but hey, what do I know.

This beer receives a quarter glass remaining. I was delightfully surprised by the flavor of this beer. This is a very good beer from Terrapin and I have loved many of their recent beers that I have had. While I enjoyed this beer very much there are plenty of beers I would rather have. If you are looking for a beer with the described flavors above that you haven't had this may be a good recommendation.



--Jon

Bell's Consecrator Doppelbock

Why I tried this: It was Bell's night at World of Beer. Every once in a while they have a brewer's night where they hook up a handful of beers from a craft brewery on tap, and have neat swag and stuff going on. This was such a night. Although this wasn't the first Bell's beer I had that night, this will be the first one I will review, as it was probably my favorite, that I could remember.

Smell: I was able to detect a lot of malts and a caramel sweetness in the scent of this beer.

Taste: Malty and sweet, likely due to the caramel. It also has a slight fruitiness to it as well, but I couldn't discern exactly what was in it. Overall, the taste is pretty well balanced and almost a bit mild.

Overall, I'd give this beer an empty glass award. It was a hard decision, because I actually wanted almost a little stronger of a flavor, but then I realized this is made up for in the smoothness of the beer, which in turn makes it more drinkable. I think that's a fair trade considering the great taste and smell. Definitely give this beer a try if you can find it.

--Jeff

St. Peter's Old Style Porter

Why I tried this: Was talking with someone at the bar at WOB (sorry I forgot your name, I was fairly drunk!) and he recommended me to try anything from St. Peter's brewery. We were discussing it with the bartenders and they suggested I try the Old Style Porter. Sorry for the poor lightning picture, but you get the idea. It's a porter.

Smell: Mostly of roasted malts and a slight bit of coffee. Very pleasant, and better than your average porter.

Taste: The first thing I noticed about this beer while tasting it was how creamy and smooth it was. There was a definite strong roasted malt flavor, combined with coffee, or perhaps even toffee, as there was a slight sweetness to it which was really nice. Highly enjoyable all the way down.

Overall, I'm going to give St. Peter's Old Style Porter an empty pint glass award. This was one damn smooth porter. Normally you get an overpowered roasted malt and coffee flavor from your porters, but not this one. The flavor is strong, but extremely well balanced. I really liked the slight sweetness, which really helped said balance. I'd recommend this beer to anyone that likes a dark beer.

--Jeff